According to research firm Gartner Inc. using data partially provided by Technorati Inc.,more than 200 million blogs lie abandondoned in cyberspace. The number of active bloggers worldwide is expected to peak this year at 100 million and then drop off to 30 million.

None of my clients even bothered to start blogging. It seems they already knew what those who have started blogging have since discovered - that it takes an awful lot of time and it is very hard to write about something interesting on a regular basis.

I suppose it gets even harder to rationalize the time spent writing a blog when one comes to the realization that few if any actually read the blogs. At that point many blogs become "flogs" - just an online brochure for the Realtor that is never updated.

Do you blog? Why? How often do you write an entry? Who reads it? Do you think it is just a passing fad?

Political blogs have been quite popular from what I hear.

The only blog I read regularly is Dave Barry's 24 blog.

I hope that my competitors agree with your belief that blogs are dying. Mine took my web site from a PR3 to a PR5 in less than three months.

The url I purchased to point to the blog portion of the site is showing up three positions higher in Google for my best keyword string than the site itself.

As far as time involved, I spend less than an hour a week posting. I use Google Alerts to send me local information that I can comment upon in posts, as well as getting good post ideas from the local newspaper, etc. My clients read and comment.

Though the blogging universe may have peaked, successful real estate blogging hasn't even begun to run. I have written several articles on the subject and how to blog successfully for real estate.

I agree with Jim. It will not only help the search engine position of your site but will also provide fresh content that your visitors might be interested in.

My personal blog is going for over 2.5 years. I started it to help my SEO similar to Jim but eventually found out that there are people out there who actually read my personal blog???

Someone even wanted to put a paid link on it

I did not say that was my belief. My post refers to the results of a study which came to that conclusion - I did not say that was my conclusion. My post asks for opionions and I thank you for yours.

Sorry Doug, I must have misconstrued these paragraphs as agreement with the study.

Words and data that other people find interesting can always find a market, if it is marketed appropriately.

Words for the sake of words is an SEO game that lots of people attempt to play. That just makes more noise in a word full of noise pollution.

I look forward to spending some time reading Jim's articles. It looks like good stuff.

With internet marketing, the spoils go to those who genuinely apply themselves.

Jim,

I said that my clients seemed to be on the same wavelength as those bloggers the study talks about - I did not say that I think blogging is a waste of time. I blog myself and I also have a real estate blog directory - search Google for "real estate blogs" and see what comes up #1.

My own clients seem to think blogging is a waste of time from a real estate sales point of view - not one is listed in my directory - because the type of clients I work with would rather be out face to face with buyers and sellers than playing with their website which includes writing in a blog even though they would be on a PR4 page. Blogging for SEO reasons is not really what I intended the the point of the post to be.

Again - the point of the post is in regards to real estate blogs and members experiences with them - not blogging as a SEO exercise.

To get back to that - my question was "Do you blog? Why? How often do you write an entry? Who reads it? Do you think it is just a passing fad?"

I blog. I blog to let my readers stay current on the local real estate market. I write entrys twice a week. I think out of town buyers who use my website to search the MLS are reading my blog. I think blogs are here to stay and are not a fad.

I would think that out-of-towners would find blogs about current market conditions a real benefit. And they are usually the best buyers to pick up from the net!

Doug:

In the past year I've changed from my own custom site which I built and a Blog on Typepad to a Point2Agent Site with an integral blog. I'm in a vacation/resort market. It was a big decision to get rid of the custom site with a PR5. I ran both together for about a year. The new site had a PR3 and the blog was added about six months ago. The blog portion of the site already has a PRS, while the site itself is fluctuating between a 4 and a 5.

I attribute the quick recent gains totally to the blog. Since every dollar of my real estate income comes from my site and I do No other marketing, print or otherwise, I think blogging is great for me. I agree with you that it's not for everyone.

This is the conversation that i have been having with myself about blogging and SEO in general.

From what i see a blog will have great effects on SEO, but i still dont know who reads it? and if it results in $$, and How much time it takes to get a great PR

In Australia the tech side of real estate is 3-5 years behind the USA, so seeing what you are doing is great, it keeps me up the front of agents in my local area.

So If blogging is dead (and i dont think it is) what is next?

Hmmm...well my internet strategy is based around blogs. We're going to use them for farming. So far, blogs pay off more than the expensive SEO that I pay for.

That is interesting Dee - what are you doing? Are you setting up a different blog for each neighborhood and driving people to them with admail? That would be a good idea I would think.